Overlooked - A Gamer's Guide Love Story
by RainwaterFollies
Summary: They both felt something for each other, something more than friendship. That kiss proved it. But of course, Conor's more insecure than he seems, and Ashley's too shy about her emotions for her own good. And at their core, they know their bond is too important to mess up...but no one ever said ALL love stories have to end in disaster.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Recent, heart breaking events have led me to watch a show I've never seen before. I watched Cameron Boyce in Jessie, and Grown Ups, and Mirrors when I was younger. I had never seen him in anything else, or honestly paid much attention to him, sadly. He did so much good in his short 20 years. His influence on the world was and still is awe-inspiring.

That being said, I loved all three Descendants movies, they were bomb af. And Gamer's Guide...I know in real life, he and Sophie were best friends, felt like siblings. But the Ashley/Conor ship is fricken EVERYTHING y'all. I absolutely love them together, it was SO cute. I hated when I realized they left it on a cliff hanger and then NEVER made another episode. Like...REALLY? So I decided to write my own finale, and I will try to do it justice to the original show, and the character's personalities, with just minor changes, like Ashley not being dumb. :P Anyways, enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own this awesome show, but if I did they'd have had a BETTER DAMN FINALE.

Conor's POV

"No, DON'T-" I tried to scream, but it was too late. What felt like the weight of a thousand bricks encompassed my chest. My words were abruptly wrenched from me, and I was rendered breathless in a cruel second as I watched the girl I love slipping towards what was surely her inevitable death. And in almost the same instance, a shocked relief ran through me when I saw that she had caught herself with the rails at the end of the platform. I shouldn't have been so surprised. She was very agile, and had excellent reflexes. That's one reason she'd come with me in the first place.

As infinite horrifying scenarios ran through my overactive mind, I listened to one thought, a voice saying one thing that rang out above all others: Save Ashley. I made my way slightly more recklessly than I should have down the tipping platform.

"Ashley!" I shouted, as if that would help. "Hang on, hang on..." I planted my feet as firmly as I could, pushing the rubber part of my shoes against the small lip of the metal flooring, and lowered myself down to grab Ashley's arm. "I got you!" I'm pretty sure I pulled muscles in my biceps with the force I was using against the weight of the rippling New York wind that was threatening to whip her away from me. Despite my best efforts, I felt her slipping.

Now one of her hands was wrapped in a death grip around one of the rails on the platform, while the other one was grasping frantically at my fingers. I let go of the rail I was holding onto, and used both of my arms to put every bit of my strength into one heave. With our minds linked more strongly than ever before, she mustered up everything she could to pull herself up at the same time.

Grunting with exertion on both of our ends, we managed to get her upper half back up onto the platform. "I got you!" I shouted again, as I pulled her fully upright, and crushed her small frame against me, dragging us both back several steps. She clung just as desperately to me as I did to her. "Are you okay?" I murmured into her hair breathlessly. She didn't say anything, so I pulled back just a small bit to look into her eyes. They were wild, and bright with both fear and relief.

"Uh huh. " She breathed out in awe. We stared into each other's eyes for just a brief moment, and then the walls I had been building in myself for months came tumbling down. My hand slid down her back to grip her waist, and I pulled her tighter against me. My resolve faltered, and I leaned down and kissed her without a second thought.

Any attempt my heart had been making to return to a normal speed had gone out the window. Or in this case, it dove off the side of the window washer's platform in Ashley's place, for when our lips met, it rapidly quickened to a pace that would surely be a cause of concern for a doctor in any other situation.

Ashley gasped in surprise, but almost immediately tightened her grip on my shoulder, and went limp in my arms as she kissed me back. Much too soon, as we were both still so out of breath from the previous incident, we pulled away. Fast as the bliss had overtaken me, it was overshadowed by confusion, and shock.

"Whoa...Conor." Ashley breathed. Her breath against my face smelled of juicy pop watermelon bubble gum, a flavor I knew she liked to chew on game days to get her brain flowing. "We just..."

"Kissed." I finished the sentence for her in a whisper. A short chuckle of awed disbelief escaped my lips. My eyes flickered back down to hers a few times, as hers did mine.

"Yeah. We did." She said. Her expression was unreadable. I could've sworn I saw the hint of a smile, but her eyes told a different story. I wasn't sure how she was feeling, and I have no idea what my face was telling her as we stared in silence, still wrapped in each other's embrace.

I was preparing myself to speak, when our completely forgotten audience above claimed our attention.

"Whoa ho ho, Con-NOR!" Dwayne shouted. "Hey, you do you man, chaperone sees nothing." I looked back down at Ashley, embarrassment overriding everything.

"We should probably get going." I said, reluctantly letting her go.

"Yeah, good idea." I pushed a button, and the platform corrected itself, and we began moving down again. We both nervously glanced at each other a few times out of the corner of our eyes. When the platform jostled unevenly, Ashley grabbed onto my arm in fear. She quickly released me with a quiet, "Sorry."

In response, I tentatively reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She squeezed back, and gratefully moved closer, tightening her grip any time the platform made a questionable squeak.

Finally we reached the bottom, and went about rescuing our friends and making our way to the tournament. We made a silent agreement to put everything that had just happened onto the back burner for the sake of our team, and the current competition.

Ashley POV

"So. You and Conor, huh?" Franklin said. "I did NOT see that coming." There was a look of genuine surprise on his face.

"Neither did I." I admitted. "It just...happened." I turned and snuck a glance in Conor's direction as he was giving his interview, confidence radiating from him in light of our epic National's win.

"Well...do you like him?" Franklin asked excitedly. In all honesty, I liked him much more than I had been letting on, and had liked him for a while. Actually, I couldn't really remember when it started. I looked over my shoulder again at the boy who had stolen my heart.

"Yeah. I do." I told Franklin.

"Oh, man this is JUST like the movie Chainsaw Wedding Massacre. You know, without the chainsaw wedding massacre part." Franklin was so silly sometimes, but I guess that's why we kept him around. I raised my eyebrows amusingly at him.

"You know there's only one thing to do." He continued. That was true, my timid little self would bury my emotions under a rock.

"Yep. Bottle up these feelings and avoid eye contact for a couple of years." I answered quickly, as I bent over to pick up my bag, heading for the door.

"No!" Franklin said, pulling me back by my shoulder. "You have to tell him how you feel!" He insisted.

I knew he was probably right, but I was still unsure. Conor _did_ kiss me. Obviously he felt something too, but it could've just been the heat of the moment. We'd shared quite a few serious, and heartfelt conversations since we'd come to New York, so that could've contributed to it too. We were best friends, and he definitely cared about me. You could hear it in his voice when he was shouting my name. However, he had also risked his _own_ life to save me. I knew he was brave...but that was something else. My admiration for him greatly intensified after that.

I stole yet another look at Conor, and this time he caught my gaze. He smiled broadly, and the look he gave me lit a raging fire in the pit of my stomach that made my decision for me.

"You're right." I said, smiling as I turned back to Franklin. Just then, Conor made his way over to us.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" He asked.

"Well, ya see," Franklin started. He smiled down at me, looked at Conor for a brief second, and then sprinted away out the door. Conor and I followed him with our eyes until he was gone, and then he turned his attention to me, awaiting an explanation.

I sighed deeply,and began. "We were...just talking about...what happened." I said, feeling the fire proliferating under his scrutiny.

Conor's POV

My stomach tightened into a knot as the words left her mouth. So Franklin and Wendell _did_ see. I sighed. I was ridiculously nervous. This girl has been in the center of my mind for almost a year now. She's without a doubt the best friend I've ever had, but on the other hand I've never felt such an intense rush being around any other girl _but_ her. I hadn't instantly fallen in love, but over the last several months I had gradually sank deeper and deeper into the pool of her beautiful blue eyes. I would do absolutely anything for her. I realized I hadn't said anything in a minute, so I forced myself to speak.

"You mean...when we were out on the-"

"Yope."

"And I-"

"Yes you did."

"I did."

For a second, we avoided each other's gaze, but when our eyes met, it was like there was a magnetic pull keeping us locked in place. I had been intending to end things before they started, but looking into her eyes, forbidden words fell out of my mouth without warning.

"I uh...can't stop thinking about it." I said, mentally kicking myself. I knew I needed to stop this before something else happened.

"Neither can I." She said, a small smile forming on her beautiful face. I hadn't been sure how she felt until that moment, but for some reason my mouth kept vomiting the wrong words at the wrong time.

"Which is why it can never happen again." I said quickly, knowing I might be hurting her. That was the last thing I wanted to do, but if we were to ever be together, we'd both get hurt in the long run. Better to be a little hurt now, than to lose each other completely later. So I continued on that path.

"Oh."

"You know...we're friends." I said, gesturing between the two of us. "And that's why our team works. And I almost messed that up." The look on her face about killed me, but I knew I was doing the right thing. "The last thing we need are distractions if we're trying to make it to World Championships, right?"

"Of course. Makes total sense." She answered. The tone of her voice was a little off, and I knew that isn't what she was wanting to hear. I wanted to just abandon the entire stupid plan, and kiss her senseless right then and there...but I heard my own words echoing in my ears. _'We're friends, and that's why this team works.' _

"I think they're waiting for you." She said abruptly, pointing to the camera men.

"Yeah..." I said, continuing to look at her. She smiled and nodded at me, giving me my cue to leave. Our eyes stayed locked as I walked away, craning my neck until it wasn't possible anymore. I felt like the bricks were weighing me down again, when the weight should've been lifted. What was supposed to make things easier just made everything harder, and more complicated. I was barely paying attention to what I was saying, much less the questions I was being asked. I already couldn't focus, and we'd literally only kissed _one_ time. And man, I wanted to do it again.

_Stop it, Conor,_ I mentally reprimanded myself.

"Alright, guys. I'm sorry, I can't do this. My mind is all...somewhere else right now." I eventually told the crew.

"Totally understand, bro. Let's just get one more picture, and you're free to go."

"Cool, thanks." I said with a sigh of relief.

"Alright, big smile!"

I tried to put on my best smile, looking over at Ashley for inspiration. My smile dropped immediately, as I saw her shaking hands with my former coach, Brok, and then leaving the room with him.

_'What?'_


	2. Guilt

Ashley's POV

Conor was definitely right. I didn't see it immediately, but as I boarded the plane home with someone different than I had arrived with, I saw what he meant. His words had hurt me, and I could see it hurt him to say it. But he was obviously the more mature of the two of us. What was I thinking? I was more than ready to dive into a relationship without even considering the repercussions if it ended badly.

At the beginning of a relationship, no one ever expects it to end. Which is stupid, considering if a person has an average of at least five serious relationships before they marry, the majority of them are going to end. Hell, even marriage isn't forever anymore. Nothing is guaranteed.

I had only been thinking of myself. Just as I was when I agreed to leave with Brok. I let my emotions blur my judgement. Conor had turned this guy's offer down for the team without a second thought, and I...didn't think twice about accepting. I felt like the worst kind of person.

I sat there, burrowing in my own guilt as I stared down at the approaching runway. I didn't even tell anyone I was leaving. Honestly, Dwayne was a terrible chaperone though. I was eager to touch down so I could call...Franklin, probably. Just to let them know I was okay. After all, our plane hadn't been due to leave until the following day. I also needed to tell Brok I no longer wanted the deal.

Finally, after much too long, I found myself walking mechanically through the terminal, in search of Brok. He had been in a separate section of the plane, as he had needed to purchase my ticket last minute. I abandoned my search before too long, deciding to sit and wait for him to find me. I whipped out my phone and dialed Franklin's number.

"Ashley?!" Conor answered the phone. I gasped, and looked down to see if I had dialed wrong. I didn't. "Where are you? I've - I mean... _We've _been worried sick. Are you okay?" The concern in his voice made the guilt that much worse.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry." I said sadly.

"Don't be sorry, just...where _are_ you?"

I took a deep breath, and prepared for the worst. "I'm home."

There was a pause on the other end of the line as he took in my short sentence.

"Um. What?" He asked, confused.

"Yeah, uh..." There was no point in lying. "Brok bought me a ticket."

"BROK?" The pain in his voice was evident. I cringed as his voice broke over his next few words. "But why, Ash?"

"I made a stupid mistake. I wasn't in the right frame of mind, and I let Brok sway me with his fancy words. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?"

"He offered me the same thing he offered you, and I accepted."

Conor's POV

"Oh." I said woodenly. "Um. Congratulations?" It came out as a question.

"No, no, no! I felt terrible the entire way home, I'm telling him I don't want it as soon as I find him." Ashley hurriedly assured me. It didn't make me feel better in the slightest. I had given that opportunity up without batting an eye. For her. Well, for the whole team, really. I felt a sudden rage build up in me, even though she said she wasn't going to do it.

"Why? Aren't you always saying to follow your gut instinct?" I spat out rudely.

"I-um-yes, but-"

"Well obviously your gut instinct told you to get on a plane with a dude you barely know, and abandon all of your friends. May as well stick with it." I didn't know where any of that had come from. I'd never spoken to her, or really anyone like this before. But I couldn't stop myself.

"Conor!" She said exasperatedly. She sounded on the verge of tears, if she was not there already, and my anger dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. As my mind had done countless times over the last several hours, I thought back to those moments on the roof. Before I'd made a decision, Ash had said she would support me no matter what. I may have given it up, but I had already had it before. Ashley hadn't. She really could go far with this, and who was I to stop her if that was what she wanted to do?

"I'm so sorry, Ash. I don't know where that came from. But seriously, like you said, this is something amazing. And after the way you played today, I have to be honest. Thumbs of Fury may be holding _you _back." Once the words were out of my mouth, I was shocked with the resounding truth of them. She was incredible, and she deserved a chance to show people that.

"I have to go, Conor." She mumbled. I heard sniffling, and I didn't want things to end like that, but we both needed time to process.

"Okay...but Ash?"

"Hmm?"

I couldn't think of anything to say, other than to apologize again. I was pathetic. "I'm really sorry. Can we please talk when I get home?"

"Sure." She said hollowly.

"Bye, Ash." I sighed, defeated.

"Bye, Conor." Short pause. "Fly safe." She added sincerely. And then there was a dial tone. I turned to go and hand Franklin back his phone, but instead ran right into him. He looked the least friendly I had ever seen him. The one person he admired and looked up to as much as he did me, if not more, was Ashley. And obviously my conversation with her hadn't just been between the two of us.

"You've got some explaining to do, Sir." He said, crossing his arms across his chest in an interrogative fashion. Uh oh.


End file.
